New Homes: At the court of the Kennedys

Once a bolt hole for British and American royalty, Wall Hall near Radlett is undergoing a luxury conversion, says Robert Liebman

For most of its 700-year existence, Wall Hall in Aldenham near Radlett, Hertfordshire, was the very model of an English country gentleman’s residence, complete with Humphry Repton-designed parkland and a pedigree dating back to 13th-century landowner Guy de Walehale.

But during the second world war, Wall Hall became the playground of two of America’s most illustrious figures: banker J P Morgan, who owned it, and Joseph P Kennedy, United States ambassador to Great Britain and a Morgan house guest. After Morgan’s death in 1943, the estate was acquired by the county council and was given over to what later became the University of Hertfordshire. Now, property developer Octagon is building flats and houses on the site.

A pile with romantic ruins on more than 300 acres, Wall Hall is not quite what it seems. The castle-like facade was added in the early 1800s by then owner George Thellusson, who sold